Chapter 126 Chapter 126 – It Turns Out I’M The Abnormal One (Bonus Chapter For Kong Tianlong Qing)
Chapter 126 – It Turns Out I’M The Abnormal One (Bonus Chapter For Kong Tianlong Qing)
Icy, bone-chilling water flooded her nose and mouth, and Su Tao felt her breathing become increasingly difficult.
On the shore, a figure stood watching her, unwilling to reach out a hand and pull her to safety, no matter how she struggled or pleaded.
The pain, the suffocation, the feeling of her body sinking little by little and continuously losing warmth chilled her to the bone. She struggled with all her might, finally making out the figure on the shore.
The person's face... was her own?
Then who was the one drowning in the water?
Su Tao looked down, realizing she no longer felt the agonizing sensation of drowning.
The icy lake surface before her gradually transformed into a bathtub, and the submerged figure had, at some point, become Chi Xiao Cheng.
The figure was staring at her with resentment.
As if questioning and cursing, “Why didn't you save me? You could have reached out and saved me, so why did you just watch me drown!”
Su Tao's lips were dry. She clutched her head and shook it wildly, muttering, “No... it's not that I didn't want to save you, and it's not that I didn't want you, I... I...”
Before she could finish, the Xiao Cheng in the bathtub was completely submerged by the crimson water.
“Xiao Cheng!”
Su Tao suddenly woke from her dream. She sat up, reaching out into the air as if to grasp something, but her hand found nothing.
She gulped air into her lungs, her blurred vision gradually clearing. Her pounding head and the familiar living room before her made her realize it had only been a dream.
After a moment to steady herself, Su Tao abruptly cried out, “Where's Xiao Cheng? How is she!”
Leaning on the other side of the sofa, a tall, elegant woman in a sweater yawned. “You're awake. Your Xiao Cheng is out of danger. She's currently in Dongfang Yang's private hospital, so please don't worry.”
Su Tao felt a huge weight lift at her words. “Really?”
“I was just worried you'd do something foolish when you woke up, which is why I waited here for you to come to. Are you feeling better?”
She hadn't brought her sachet with her. Su Tao had slept but didn't feel much recovered; if anything, she felt more exhausted.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, forcing herself to grasp the situation. “I'm so sorry, I've troubled you. I haven't even asked who you are yet.”
“My name is Qian Qing.” Qian Qing stood up and poured Su Tao a cup of hot water. “I'm one of Dongfang Yang's few friends. He asked me to look after you.”
“Thank you.” Su Tao took a sip of the hot water. Though it was scalding, she felt her body warm considerably.
She looked at Qian Qing, hesitating as she asked, “Miss Qian... do you know the specifics of Xiao Cheng's condition?”
“The rescue was successful, and she's still in a coma. Her life was saved, but whether there will be any lasting effects is unclear,” Qian Qing said calmly. Then she asked curiously, “While asking this might bring up unpleasant memories, I am quite curious.”
“What exactly did you do to that little one to make her so desperate she chose to leave this world?”
She pointed to the suicide note in Su Tao's hand. “May I see that?”
Su Tao pursed her lips and handed the note to Qian Qing.
She blamed herself, “It's all my fault. Xiao Cheng... she loved me, and I didn't accept her confession.”
“Huh?!”
Qian Qing hadn't even had a chance to read the note, stunned by Su Tao's words. “Dongfang Yang told me she viewed you as family, so a confession...”
“Dongfang Yang must have misunderstood.” Su Tao hadn't told Dongfang Yang about Chi Xiao Cheng. “The truth is, Xiao Cheng loves me, and it's a very sick, twisted kind of love. She already has a personality disorder, and she's pathologically possessive. When she confessed to me, I didn't accept her.”
“Then, even though I never told her about the marriage contract and Xiao Ming, she somehow found out.”
“Finally... she had a breakdown, thinking I didn't want her anymore, so...”
She didn't continue, but Qian Qing already understood the full situation.
She had heard a little about the pathologically possessive type.
She had always thought it was a trait fantasized by netizens lacking love in the 'second dimension,' never imagining it existed in reality.
Su Tao seemed to be seeking validation as she spoke to Qian Qing, “Miss Qian, you also think this isn't right, don't you? I... I grew up with Xiao Cheng, but I always treated her like a little sister, and I never had those kinds of feelings for her.”
“Yet she kept saying she loved me. Even putting that aside, a girl and a girl... isn't that too strange?”
Qian Qing opened the suicide note and said calmly, “There's nothing strange about it. Perhaps your upbringing environment was too sheltered. In the chaotic upper circles, there's nothing you can't imagine.”
“Take a simple example: countless families, many young masters and young ladies. The elite schools that emerge from them are something all commoners look up to.”
“To outsiders, every young master and young lady seems exceptionally outstanding, but only those of us on the inside know that even very beautiful and excellent young ladies, once they're at school, just drop their pants and play around with others.”
Qian Qing paid no mind to Su Tao's stunned expression and continued calmly, “Don't find it strange. To you, it's unbelievable and goes against common sense, but to those young ladies and masters, physical intimacy is just a form of relaxation among their entertainments.”
“The lavish lifestyles of the wealthy are beyond your imagination, and I don't wish for someone like you to even try to imagine them.”
“There are plenty of same-sex female and same-sex male couples. People seek thrills, but your Xiao Cheng was just seeking true love.”
Qian Qing herself couldn't stand such a messy circle, which is why she rejected her family's financial support and came out on her own to stand on her own two feet.
Just like Dongfang Yang, who would rather be a good-for-nothing young master used as a bad example by various powerful families than conform to such ugliness.
Su Tao fell silent at her words.
She couldn't help but recall Doctor Cheng's words.
Girls and girls – as a doctor, he had seen too many such cases.
Even Chen Qian and Xiao Wei thought it was normal.
So it turned out, only I found it strange.
And used that as a basis to constantly avoid Xiao Cheng?
Qian Qing placed the suicide note back on the table. “Can you stand up?”
“I can...”
“I've cleaned the bathroom for you. Try not to think so much. Take a shower and get some good sleep. Recharge your spirit, and go see your Xiao Cheng at the hospital tomorrow. I'm tired too; may I borrow a guest room?”
“Please wait a moment, I'll prepare it for you now.”
Su Tao desperately wanted to do as Qian Qing said, to force herself not to think about it, but she found she couldn't.
While showering, every time she saw the bathtub, the image of Chi Xiao Cheng lying inside it would flash in her mind.
It made her dry heave for a long while, unable to recover.
After taking a shower, she felt even more exhausted.
Finally, listlessly, she returned to Chi Xiao Cheng's room. The living room was messy, and there were traces of smashed dishes in the kitchen, but only this room was neatly kept, as if deliberately preserved for her memories.
Immaculately tidy, not a speck of dust.
She buried her face in the bed, collapsing onto it. From the covers, she could faintly smell Xiao Cheng's natural scent, left from her long stays there.
It was... a scent as comforting as her sachet.
Unconsciously, tears blurred her eyes again.
If these things hadn't happened.
If she had accepted Chi Xiao Cheng's confession.
Then right now, she should be on this very bed, holding that delicate, soft body as they slept, right?
But in this world, there are no 'ifs.'
And even if there were, it would surely only be in a dream.
Su Tao lay on her side in bed, her gaze falling inadvertently upon a figurine on the bedside table, her expression dazed.
“When did such an exquisite figurine appear here?”
“The two figures on it... are they Xiao Cheng and me?”
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